The sexual street harassment battle: perceptions of women in urban India
| Published date | 09 April 2018 |
| Date | 09 April 2018 |
| Pages | 101-109 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-12-2017-0038 |
| Author | Jehangir Bharucha,Rita Khatri |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse |
The sexual street harassment battle:
perceptions of women in urban India
Jehangir Bharucha and Rita Khatri
Abstract
Purpose –In India, women feel unsafe particularly in public spaces and single women feel threatened in
almost every context (Nag, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to examine women’s safety in the metropolitan
city of Mumbai and argue that we need to address this issue and respond to the dearth of firsthand
knowledge about women’s safety in India which is investigated in light of the social and cultural milieu.
The study makes several recommendations based on the research findings.
Design/methodology/approach –Thedata collection was done in three separate stages. In the first phase,
a structured questionnaire was administered orally to around 300 working women all over the city of Mumbai
and its suburbs. The second stage adopted an exploratory qualitative approach using in-depth interviews
and reflections. In the third stage, the authors audited busy areas on various parameters that might hamper
women’s safety.
Findings –All the raw data obtained were analyzed using qualitative data coding and categorized to
generate themes. Six clear themes emerged which include: perception of safety; safety in transportation;
actual violation of personal or physical safety; negligible reaction by the victims; experience with the police;
and firsthand recommendations and strategies. This study brings to light the disturbing fact that 91 percent of
women worry about their safety all the time or most of the time when they are outside their homes. On the
streets of the city almost all had experienced some tangible threats to their safety at some point of time.
Originality/value –Hypocrisy in the treatment of women is precisely what makes India unsafe for women.
Although Mumbai ranks as the safest city in India, the study portrays that it is unsafe and fearsome for
women. The recent much publicized crimes against women especially rape cases have made women’s
safety an important topic for research. Not much primary research exists in this area.
Keywords Safety, Crime, Women, Harassment, Fear, Rape, Eve teasing
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
India is a land of rich ancient culture and tradition. In the Indian tradition, women are worshipped
as the goddess of the family (Spina, 2016), yet they continue to be subservient to men.
Traditionally, Indian women had been homemakers. The notion that India’s patriarchal society
thinks of women only as homemakers and sexual objects and generally subject to exploitation
and torture (Dube, 2001) is now changing as proper education and the ever increasing cost of
living has made them move out of their houses and choose careers. Although women are
excelling in all fields and striving to be at par with men (Bharucha, 2016), it is still believed in the
rigid Indian society that the man is the primary bread winner of his family and women have only a
supportive role to play. According to Human Development Report (UNDP, 2016), India is still
ranked 131th in the world in gender equality. It is a fact that women have to face problems just by
virtue of them being women (Kumari, 2014). Women particularly feel unsafe in public spaces and
single women feel threatened in almost every context (Nag, 2016). Crime against women is
increasing every year and has doubled over the past ten years (Nigam, 2017). As per a report by
the National Crime Records Bureau (2015), on an average 26 crimes per hour against
women are reported, at least a complaint every two minutes. These figures are probably
underestimations as many incidents probably go unreported due to fear of stigma and
non-awareness of rights.
Received 1 December 2017
Revised 16 February 2018
24 February 2018
Accepted 26 February 2018
Jehangir Bharucha is a Senior
Vice Principal at H.R. College,
Mumbai, India and Faculty at
Lincoln University College,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Rita Khatri is an Assistant
Professor at the Department of
Commerce and Management,
H.R. College of Commerce and
Economics, Mumbai, India.
DOI 10.1108/JAP-12-2017-0038 VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018, pp. 101-109, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
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THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
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PAG E 1 0 1
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